The learning of and value placed in intellectual information is detrimental to human beings when enacted too early. This type of learning stimulates brain activity in ways that should come later and necessarily therefore does not allow for the type of brain development that should be happening when we are young.

This early intellectual/informational stimulation – whether intended or not – devalues body-sensate awareness. Our bodies’ energetic sensations have/are wisdom. Our senses have/are wisdom. We have sense perception that is beyond our physical senses that has/is wisdom. These are all valid forms/ways of knowing that, if allowed to develop as they naturally will, provide a sense of embodied-essence that is unshakable, confident, and supremely at ease.

Our emphasis on intellectuality and “head-centered” awareness, while functional in some respects, is largely responsible for a mass experience of anxiety, dis-ease, feelings of isolation/disconnection and anger that results from knowing that something is not quite right without being able to feel how to become whole again.

We live in a culture that values data, problem solving, and understanding as supreme. “We think, therefore we are” and we suffer from a vain insecurity that everything will be okay if we can just “figure it out.” Once we “get it” then we ease our anxiety by making a plan/solution. This is an ego strategy to buffer our discomfort of being fully engaged with ALL that is life, i.e. impermanence and death.

We value this strategic buffer because we identify with it as what we are – it fortifies our self-image formation. This makes us feel/appear secure. But, beneath the surface our foundation is shaky and we are mostly very afraid. We can’t stand this fear so we re-fortify our self-image. We feel secure again and so we value this process. We automatically impart to our children what we value most.

Last time I was in America I was astonished to hear – on numerous occasions – that the most common and number one way people described the positive attributes of another was by saying, “She/he is super-smart.” Not… “She’s really lovely to be around,” or, “He’s a kind-hearted man,” or, “What an amazingly dependable friend.” It’s almost gotten to a point where these latter compliments are the ones we pay when we think someone’s a bit daft and we want to still be nice.

We value intellectual-knowledge above other types and even have the “smartest” of us (scientists) to confirm that other types of knowledge (intuition from beyond the senses, perceiving things directly through the body, etc) is all hocus-pocus because it is “unprovable.” I often get retorts to my blogs that say, “Where’s the scientific proof/evidence for this statement? ” Ah, duh! I don’t care whether a phD has published a paper on the subject of what I know to be true to the heart of humanity.

Rudi's childhood education will be mostly physical, though I swear that at age 7 months we did not train him to perform this perfect plank pose!

If we want our children to be whole, healthy and happy – and equipped to make decisions in life based on heart-centered compassionate awareness, rather than head-centered insecurity that attempts to control everything – then start them out with BODY-based education. Then lead them to ENERGY-based education, and then, when they naturally become intellectually curious – which they will all on their own – feed their desire to think rationally and logically.

We are comprised of 3 centers of being: body (base), energy (heart-area) and mind (head). Our current predicament is one of having cut ourselves off from the bottom two aspects of who we are. The Native people in America witnessed this a few hundred years ago and called their anglo-conquerors, “walking heads.”

A house built on shaky ground will crumble and fall, while a house built on a sturdy foundation can be a home for generations. By emphasizing the intellect we are floating in the attic of our being, disconnected from the earth. This makes us insecure. Our insecurity leads us to anger and our anger expresses as an attempt to control. We control through information and aggression – which are both on tap in stores in this modern era.

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If you are curious about the origins of these views read more about Sauhu, here.

About Yogi Michael Boyle

Michael Boyle, also known as Yogi, is training to be a DHARMA INC Acarya as student of Dharma Bodhi (Adi Yoga). Yogi is a graduate of DHARMA INC's , seven year, “Tantrik Yoga Studies Program” as well as JFK’s masters psychology program. He is a certified Sauhu Therapy Counselor, Primal Ayuveda Health Advisor, Śakta-Śaiva Dharma Teacher and Adi-Yoga Teacher. In 2010, he founded Energy of Mind Holistic Counseling, which offers counseling through the lens of yoga, ayurveda, meditation, etc. all within the context of psychological insight and understanding.

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